3 Men and Jamie's Baby
by Nora Lou
Summary: What happens when a baby suddenly appears in the lives of the Reagan men? Any resemblance to a certain movie is unintended...well...actually...


3 Men and Jamie's Baby

By

Nora Lou Wilson

And

Rebecca S. Smithey

This is Part One of what we hope will be an on-going story...let us know what you think!

Disclaimer: We don't own _Blue Bloods, _so no copyright infringement is intended. As for the title…_we just couldn't help ourselves…_

At the end of an overnight tour, Jamie Reagan and Sergeant Renzulli made sure their RMP was gassed up and cleaned before they headed inside to the 12th Precinct station house. The tour had been relatively uneventful, and Jamie had already decided to go work out before heading home. He felt like he had a lot of unspent energy built up that he could get rid of on the punching bag.

As they headed toward the locker room, Jamie's cell phone rang. When he took it from his pocket and looked at the display, it took him only a heartbeat to recognize Sydney's number.

"Syd? It that really you?" He could hear the note of happy excitement in his own voice, but he could not help it. Despite everything that had happened, he still missed her.

"Hi, Jamie," he heard her say. "I'm calling because I really need to see you."

"Are you back in New York?" He wanted to say "back home" but something told him that was never going to happen.

"I'm only in town for a couple of days. I return to London on Sunday." Before he could say anything else, she said, "Jamie, I REALLY need to see you. Today. As soon as possible. I'm staying at the Excelsior Hotel. Suite 802."

Jamie took a deep breath. "Okay, Syd. I'll be there right away."

In the locker room, Jamie changed clothes quickly, and then drove uptown toward the Excelsior Hotel. As he drove, he tried to imagine what had suddenly brought Sydney back to New York after almost a full year away. _Why does she need to see me so badly?_ He could not keep himself from imagining a scene where Sydney would open her hotel door, see him and throw herself into his arms, vowing never to leave him again. _You wish! _

Jamie was in a fog all the way to the Excelsior. He could not have said how he got there; the route he took was completely blank. _I hope I didn't hit anyone on the way here. _He thought as he climbed out of his car. _I haven't seen Syd in nearly a year. I can't believe it's been ten months since she left for England. Maybe she got tired of the weather._

The ride up was excruciating; it seemed like hours passed before the slow elevator opened on the eighth floor. Jamie found himself running to the suite's door. With his heart pounding, he knocked.

There was a moment of silence and Sydney opened the door. She looked beautiful, but Jamie could sense she was not there for a reconciliation.

"Jamie, it's good to see you…come in."

Thanks, Syd, you look great!"

"I look…but that isn't important. I want to get this over with, so I can get on with my life."

"Sydney, what is it?"

She led him into the sitting room of the suite, to a sofa, and sat on one end, "When I left for London I never expected to see you again."

"I know what I did to you wasn't fair, but I…"

"Please, just let me get through this. When I left, I was pregnant." She didn't give him time to react to this. "I had no idea I was pregnant, or I, well, I'm not sure what I would have done. But it's a moot point now. I gave birth to a little girl two months ago."

Jamie was too stunned to speak. "You were pregnant and you didn't let me know?" He tried and failed to keep the anger out of his voice.

"I wasn't thinking very clearly," she said by way of apologizing. "A baby was never in my plans, you know that." She turned away. "But I thought I could handle it, you know…be the single parent and have a career too."

"You should have told me."

"I'm telling you now."

"I would have helped you."

Sydney looked at him. She had this way of looking at him that made it seem like she was stripping away all his pretenses, looking straight through him to his very heart. She wore that look on her face now. "You would have left the force…the uniform…your _family_ behind to come to London and be with me?"

"Syd…"

"You _can_ help me now, Jamie…" She got to her feet and walked into the adjoining bedroom. When she returned, she was carrying a large, brightly colored bag in one arm, and cradled in the other …

Jamie came closer to get a better look at the baby Sydney said was his…_daughter…_If he had had any doubts about Sydney's faithfulness to him (which he hadn't…really…), it disappeared in an instant. The baby's eyes were open, and she was looking up at him through the same clear blue eyes of his father. He had seen a baby picture of himself once, and she looked just like him.

"Can I hold her?"

Sydney handed the baby to Jamie. He cradled her on his shoulder, felt her sweet baby breath on his neck…and fell hopelessly in love…

Sydney had moved to the other side of the room and was now looking out the picture window. "There is an envelope in the bag with all the paperwork; medical records, her passport, birth certificate – "

"What's her name?"

"You told me once that if we ever had a little girl, you wanted to name her Mary Elizabeth, after your Mom and Grandmother…so, that's her name…As I was saying, the paperwork is all in order, including her schedule, and court papers giving you full and uncontested custody."

"How can you just walk away from this beautiful little girl, Syd?" He was watching her now, not sure that he had ever really known her. They had talked about having kids…one day…

"I have the opportunity to make partner in the London firm. I would be the first person out of our class to make partner. Do you know how big a deal that is?"

"And there's no room in those plans for a kid, right?" He had not meant to sound angry, but there it was. When she turned around, the hurt look she threw him told Jamie that he had hit the nail on the head. "Something like that, yeah…" She took a deep breath, like someone who had a nasty job to do. Best to do it and get it over with…"Look Jamie, this is tearing me up. There's a car seat for her by the front door. Just take her and go…_**Now**_!"

She did not even turn around as they left.

With the help of the hotel doorman, Jamie got the baby, the bag and the car seat into his car. At that point, his mechanical ability failed him as he tried to figure out how to work the car seat. Finally, after several frustrating minutes and a couple of scraped knuckles, he acknowledged defeat. He put the car seat in the front passenger floorboard and set the baby – Mary Elizabeth – into it. Then, he took a blanket from the trunk of his car and put that over her to keep her safe. That much he could do…he just hoped he did not get pulled over by a fellow officer in an RMP and then get cited for traveling with her that way.

He knew he needed help – lots of it.

So, driving very carefully, with one eye on the road and the other on his daughter, he headed toward the first and best source of help he had always been able to rely on. He turned his car toward Brooklyn and his father's house.

Mary Elizabeth was still awake; he thought he might have scared her trying to figure out that damned car seat. Her eyes were wide, in a sort of 'what_ the hell have I gotten into here?' _expression. In the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge, she screwed up her face really tight but she never cried. Then he got a whiff of something that had to be a dirty diaper. "I've never changed a diaper in my life, Little One" he told her, "but that's okay, Sweetheart, we'll figure it out together."

As something crossed his mind, he started talking to her again. "You know, it is Saturday, and I don't even know if your Grandpa is home. He should be, but who knows. Maybe I should have called him. What do you think, Mary Elizabeth? Should I pull over when we get off the bridge, and give him a call, or should we just surprise him? Do you have an opinion about this?"

At that point, she made a small noise. Jamie didn't speak infant but he guessed anyway. "You're right. Let's surprise him. Why should we be the only ones in shock here?"

Frank and Henry Reagan had had a leisurely breakfast and were now finishing their coffee as they fought over sections of the morning newspapers. There weren't that many chores planned for the day and Frank was looking forward to a quiet, uneventful Saturday at home.

He heard Jamie's car pull into the driveway, so he went to the back door. A surprise visit from his youngest son was always a great pleasure to him, but he did wonder why Jamie hadn't called first before dropping in.

"Good morning, son," Frank said as Jamie got out from behind the wheel. "Come in and have some coffee. It's fresh."

"Dad, can you help me? I've got some things to carry inside."

"Sure son." Frank set his coffee cup on the shelf by the back door and went to help Jamie. He wasn't sure what Jamie had brought, but he certainly was not expecting the bundle that Jamie pulled from the front passenger side of the car.

"Son…where did you get a baby?"

"It's very long story, Dad. Can we go inside first? I think her diaper needs changing 'cause she really stinks right now."

"Better you than me, son."

"Actually, I was hoping you would help. I've never changed a diaper in my life, Dad!"

"And you think I _**have**_?" When Jamie stared at him in disbelief, he added, "Your mother did all those chores."

"You never changed any of our diapers? I'm shocked! What _**did**_ you do."

"I taught you how to ride your tricycles, took the training wheels off your bikes, coached you and your brothers and sister in Little League, softball and basketball, helped coach football and soccer, all while keeping all of you in clothes, shoes and food for many years. But I did _**not**_ change diapers."

"Maybe I should call Linda. Or Erin."

"Your grandfather is in the house, you're a Harvard graduate and I oversee 35,000 police officers in this city. We are all capable, intelligent men. I think we can figure this out."

Thirty minutes later, Mary Elizabeth was red-faced…crying…and still diaper-less. Wrapped in a thick towel to protect the carpet and furniture, she was still in better shape than the three capable, intelligent men.

"I think I should call Linda, Dad."

"Call her!"

The three men sat in the midst of torn diapers, spilled baby powder, dirty wipes, small puddles and the entire contents of the diaper bag. While they had worked to take care of the little girl, Jamie had filled his father and grandfather in about her sudden appearance in their lives. Frank had studied the documents in the envelope, then decided that Erin should go over them.

"While you're calling Linda," he told Jamie, "go ahead and call everybody else. This situation calls for all hands on deck."

Jamie handed his towel-wrapped daughter to Frank. As he held his latest grandchild, a warm, moist sensation bled through the towel and onto his shirt. He could have sworn she was smiling.

"BUT CALL LINDA FIRST!"

The Reagan men were all amazed at how quickly the females in the family could handle the crisis. Fifteen minutes after Linda arrived, the baby was bathed, diapered and fed from the formula found in the diaper bag. Frank had changed shirts, and now held his sleeping grand-daughter. Linda was busy making a list of things Mary Elizabeth would need.

"We can get the crib that Jack and Sean used out of our attic. It'll need to be cleaned up, but it's in good shape. Okay, one rail has marks on it where Jack chewed on it when he was cutting teeth, but that's it." She looked up from the list for a moment. "Jamie, did you plan on raising that beautiful little girl in your apartment in the city?"

Jamie stared at her. He had not even begun to think about that. He and Sydney had shared an apartment in SoHo that he was barely able to afford alone. The lease was up soon, but he had not thought about where he would go. "I can move, but _**where**_?"

Henry spoke up then. He had remained unusually quiet through all of this until now. _Probably in shock_, Frank thought.

"I'll tell you where – _**HERE**_ – at home. Where they belong." Hearing his grandfather say that, Jamie could have kissed him. "Francis and I can clean up Jamie's old room, and we can make a nursery out of Erin's old room." Henry took the baby from Frank's arms, moved over to his favorite lounge chair and sat down with her. "This little girl is gonna need all of us looking after her."

When Linda was finished with her list, Frank surrendered his credit card and everybody else coughed up the cash from their wallets. She and Nikki headed out to the nearest Babies-R-US to resupply the diaper bag and anything else the baby would need. Jack and Sean were sent to help clean up the rooms upstairs, and Danny headed home to pull the crib from their attic.

With precise tutoring from Linda and Erin, Jamie could now change a diaper (without tearing it) in under five minutes, but he was determined to shave time off his personal best. They were beginning to find out little things about Mary Elizabeth. They discovered that she slept well while being held but fussed when left alone. She seemed to be very attentive when someone spoke to her, but nodded off when sung to. "That's her way of telling us not to give up our day jobs to pursue a singing career," Henry said.

Erin had examined the custody documents. "I'm no expert in family law," she told her father, "but this looks air tight. I can have a friend of mine in Family Court check it out if you like."

Frank looked at Jamie, who nodded. "Do it."

Henry had disappeared upstairs earlier, but now he came back into the kitchen carrying a large cardboard box. "Jamie, your Grandma – rest in peace – could be a real pack rat," he said. "She kept _**everything**_." He pointed to the box. "But this…this is special."

He took the lid off the box and peeled back the faded yellow tissue paper on the top. First, he pulled out a delicate white gown, coat and cap. "Your Grandma crocheted this christening gown for your father, and everybody else in the family wore it as well." He handed it to Erin. "A little hand-wash and it should be good as new."

He reached into the box again and pulled out a small, striped blanket. Frank closed his eyes, embarrassed by the assault by sudden memories. _I didn't know Mom kept that thing…_

"This was your father's baby blanket, kids," he said as he held it up. "He carried this everywhere. I was afraid he'd stick it in his seabag when he enlisted in the Marine Corps."

"Mom made me hand it over before my first day of elementary school," Frank admitted.

Next, a hand-carved wooden mobile came out of the box, along with several sock-like things that went on a baby's foot. ("They're called _booties,_" Erin sighed.) Then, a worn but well-loved stuffed bear came out of the bottom of the box. "His name is Boo-Boo Bear," Henry explained. "Do you remember him, Francis?"

"I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might tend to incriminate me – or embarrass the hell out of me!"

With all this going on, Jamie moved back into the living room. Mary Elizabeth was sleeping soundly in a make-shift crib – three couch cushions on the floor surrounded by chairs. He picked up his infant daughter and cradled her in his arms. When she stirred, he looked at her and found that gaze returned from piercing blue eyes.

"Hey, kiddo," he whispered. "I don't want to scare you, but I'm Dad." He moved around the house where he had grown up, surrounded by love, protection – and more than a little sibling rivalry. "Take a good look around, sweetheart, cause this is home."

Danny's return was announced with banging "I need some help here! Yes, Linda…I got it…yes…No…Uh-huh…Wash the walls, yeah…measure what first? Here, talk to Erin!" Danny handed off the phone with e look of relief as he started carrying crib parts into the house. "Someone needs to run upstairs and measure the windows for Linda."

Erin said goodbye to Linda and ended the call. "I'll go." She grabbed a tape measure out of the tool and "catch-all" drawer her mother had always used and headed up to do the measuring. . "Danny, DON'T take the crib upstairs yet! Take all the parts into the kitchen." Her voice carried down the stairs. "We need to disinfect the crib parts before we put it together."

"That's what Linda told me," Danny said as he started outside for the next load of parts. By the time he got back into the kitchen, Erin was back downstairs on back on the phone – he assumed with his wife.

Just as Erin got off the phone, Henry came in with the bag of "nuts and bolts" that held the crib together, and Erin said a quick prayer that all the parts were there. She turned then to a cabinet, pulled out a large bucket, gloves from under the sink and a clean cloth from a drawer in the pantry and a bottle of bleach from the laundry room. With great efficiency she began scrubbing each and every part of the crib, including the nuts and bolts.

She looked up at Danny. "While I'm doing this, you four…" as she waved at Danny, Jamie, her father and grandfather "- go up and wash the walls in my old room. There's cleaner, buckets and rags under the sink. By the way, you'll have to move all of those things in a few months. Linda is picking up a book on how to baby-proof the house for Jamie." The four men recognized marching orders when they heard them. They grabbed their gear and headed upstairs into battle.

After Erin cleaned the crib with bleach, leaving it on long enough to kill any and all germs, she washed the bleach off with a mild soap and then rinsed everything several times. Once she knew the crib was ready to be assembled, she went first to check on Mary Elizabeth and then on the men in her family. When she got to her old room, she could not believe what all they had accomplished. Her old bed, dresser and desk were all out of the room. The walls were glistening and looked freshly painted without the smell. She knew the carpet had been shampooed just a few months ago during Pop's annual spring cleaning frenzy. Still, Jack was slowly and carefully running the vacuum cleaner back and forth anyway. The only thing left in the room was the chest of drawers and it had been washed and cleaned out at the same time as the carpets. Today, someone had cleaned the outside again, as well. They only needed to take down the old curtains and clean the insides of the windows to be ready to put up the crib.

They took a break for a few minutes to grab sandwiches and check on the baby. Jamie was able to change her diaper in four minutes and thirty seconds, and he felt like he'd just broken the world track record. Mary Elizabeth did not seem so impressed.

Soon after, Linda and Nikki came in from their shopping spree. As Linda handed his credit card back to Frank, he almost thought that the numbers were worn off from over-use. She had bought new curtains, a month's supply of diapers, clothes and who knew what else. While the men cleaned up the lunch mess, the females headed upstairs. They were speaking some kind of foreign language, with words like "mattress monitors" and "bumper pads".

Later that night, after everyone else had gone home, the three Reagan men sat in the living room. They were too exhausted to much more than raise their arms high enough to take a swig from their beer bottles, but their efforts had paid off. Erin's old room – now the new nursery - was immaculate and cozy. The windows on two sides would let in plenty of light, and the furniture was polished to a sheen.

Even his old room had been redone. He and Danny had made a quick trip to his apartment and brought over some clothes, his television and radio, and a few books. His dilapidated desk chair had been replaced by a new recliner that his father had bought and had delivered late that day. "You'll need some place to sit and hold her," Frank had explained, "late at night when she can't sleep because of a stomachache…or teething pain….or…" He would have continued, but Jamie cut him off with a glare that would have done his mother proud.

For the most part, Jamie was over the shock of having a baby thrust onto him and his family, but now the hard, cold reality was setting in. "How am I gonna be able to look after her and work a tour?" he asked the other two men. "I can't quit my job, even if I wanted to – which I don't – but she is going to need a full-time parent."

Henry shook his head. "I can take care of her, but if I can't, there are any number of women in the church who would kill for the chance to be a nanny to that sweet little one," he said.

Frank looked at Jamie, a wistful sort of look on his face. "You may not remember this, son, but your Mom wasn't always a stay-at-home Mother," he said. "When you started school, she needed to stay busy, so that's when she started working with the Children's Fund. She also volunteered at the church and the library, and on top of a part-time job at St. Victor's." He got up to fetch another beer from the kitchen. "But when you kids needed either of us, we were there. We made it work then – we'll make it work now."

As Jamie started to reply, Mary Elizabeth began to cry. The sounds at first were soft, but grew ever more insistent. By the time Jamie got to the head of the stairs, she was in the midst of a full-throated wail.

He picked her up, checked and changed her diaper, but she kept crying. "She won't stop crying," he called back down the stairs. "Do you think she's sick or something? Should I call a doctor?'" He could hear the panic in his voice, but panic was the right word for how he was feeling.

Memories washing over him of many late nights before, Frank took something out of the refrigerator and walked up the stairs, a bottle in his hand. "Jamie, she's going to need to be fed every four hours…give or take…for quite a while yet…"

"Give or take what?"

Frank took the bottle over to a small microwave on the nursery dresser, zapped the bottle for a few seconds, checked it then handed it to Jamie. Jamie put the bottle to Mary Elizabeth's mouth, and she sucked greedily. The four ounces were gone in record time. When she was finished, Frank took her from Jamie and burped her. For such a tiny baby, she made a BIG noise, and seemed very proud of herself for that.

She went back to sleep pretty fast then, and Jamie came back downstairs. "How long is she gonna do that?" he asked as he came down the stairs with his father.

"Every three to four hours at first, son…unless she's like her Uncle Danny, who woke up every hour and a half…Then, when she's a few months older, she'll begin to sleep through the night," Frank replied. "Get used to waiting up for your kid…it doesn't get any easier as they get older, just later…and later…and later…"

"Great…" Jamie groaned, just thankful that he was off for the next two days. Something told him that he wasn't going to get a lot of sleep for the rest of his life….

The next morning, Erin called just before ten and talked to Jamie. "My friend Terrance says that the paperwork is airtight…Sydney is a fine lawyer, and she is doing the right thing for the baby," she said.

"I just don't want her changing her mind, and coming back to get this little girl," he looked down at Mary Elizabeth, who was resting on his shoulder. He had already fed her, bathed her and now she was happily asleep. He could feel her sweet baby's breath on his neck, and he was already in love with that feeling.

"I can't guarantee that she won't, but the paperwork is on our side." She reached out and gently touched the baby's curls. "If she tries, I'll help you." She took a deep breath. "But I honestly don't think she will, Jamie."

"As Pop likes to say, from your mouth to God's ear," Jamie replied.

The next few days fell into a surprising pattern. Just like clockwork, Mary Elizabeth was awake and hungry through the night. The three men took turns feeding and changing her. Much to Jamie's surprise, his father and grandfather were quicker about it than he was. She also began to show some of the personality she was developing. She loved being held – by anybody- but she really seemed to love it when Pop read to her. Jamie wished he'd had a video camera on the two of them the first time Pop read _If You Give a Mouse a Cookie_ to her, tears of laughter streaming down his face at the finish.

Sure enough, there were a couple of people at the church who had experience in being a nanny, and who were looking for work. One of them, Louisa, was a former nanny with a consulate in the city. She was able to start right away. She had a wonderful manner around the baby, and Mary Elizabeth seemed comfortable around her. Despite her impeccable credentials, Frank had a complete background check done on her before he let her into the house.

The second choice was a young man, Kevin Ryan, who lived in the neighborhood. He was the oldest of five kids, and he had a reputation for being Brooklyn's best baby-sitter, hands down. He had graduated from high school last year, and was working his way through City College. He wanted to be a social worker. Frank had been at his baptism, but that didn't stop him from having a full check done on him anyway. Both of them were perfect.

Jamie, Frank and Pop met with them and set up a schedule. Louisa could work most nights, and when she was unavailable, Kevin could walk over. Pop insisted on being her caregiver during the day, unless something came up, and then Louisa could step in. Jamie insisted on being "hands-on" and he did not like the idea of a stranger taking care of his child, but what could he do?

It was all he could do to kiss her goodbye when he had to go back to work. He had already put a picture of her in his uniform cap, and he held her close before handing her off to Pop. She sensed that he was upset, and tears filled her little eyes. Jamie turned to go, before she started to wail and he changed his mind.

At the station house, Jamie stood up at roll call, told his fellow officers what had happened, and then passed her picture around. He knew of no better way to let everyone know about Mary Elizabeth, and better he should tell them than rumors begin to start. As soon as he and Renzulli were in the RMP and out on tour, he made a quick stop at a corner bodega. When he came back to the car, he held out a cigar. "Here ya, go, Dad!" he said. "Someday, you gotta introduce your little one to her Uncle Tony."

"You got it, Sarge."

Jamie was amazed at quickly Mary Elizabeth was growing. It seemed like he was having to buy her new little socks and shoes every couple of weeks. Thankfully, there were plenty of hand-me-downs from Nikki, Jack and Sean. The first time Pop dressed her in a pair of cover-alls with a little plaid shirt (hand me downs from Jack) he couldn't stop from laughing. They were still too big for her, but she would grow into them soon enough.


End file.
